Riggers goalie Poulin having an all-star season

Leader and focused. Those are the two words that keep popping up when you talk to teammates about what goaltender Mike Poulin brings to the Calgary Roughnecks.Dedicated, mentally strong and physically fit also are a big part of the vocabulary.

Add it up and the 26-year-old resident of Waterloo, Ont., has once again been able to post leading numbers in the National Lacrosse League this season. No. 1 in goals-against average: 9.95; tied for No. 1 in wins: nine; third in total saves: 439.

“Poully does a phenomenal job off the floor of training and staying in great physical condition as well as his mental preparation in terms of the shooters he’s going to face,” said head coach Dave Pym.

“He’s mentally very strong, confident in his game and it stems in part from his own preparation and the confidence and trust in the defence that’s standing in front of him.”

Indeed, a good defence lends itself to good goaltending numbers, but Poulin is the last line of defence and he’s often been brilliant. For all you hockey fans, the Miikka Kiprusoff.

There have been five shutout quarters in the past 16. In his past two outings on home floor, he stopped the first 11 shots and the first 13 shots, respectively, to allow his team to break out into early leads.

Oh, sure, a number of those shots were from the outside, but there also were running shots from the top of the crease and quick-sticks from point-blank.

While Poulin is reluctant to take any personal credit for his success, preferring to share it with the defence, teammates know he’s a rock that rarely gives up a soft goal.

“I got to play against Poully last summer when he was playing for Six Nations and I was playing for Peterborough and I tell you, I was blown away by the improvement I saw,” said teammate Geoff Snider.

“He’s a leader, he’s super calm. You’ll have conversations with him on the floor and he won’t remember that you talked because he’s so focused. He has no short-term memory when he’s out there.

“He’s not up or down, he’s very steady, very consistent. He makes big plays when he needs to make big plays and forgets about that big play and goes back to being Mike.”

Poulin, who’ll strut his stuff tonight at the Saddledome when the Rochester Knighthawks check in for a 7 p.m. faceoff, admits he’s now working harder at being proficient than what he did when he was younger.

“I’m getting older, more mature,” said the six-foot-two, 205 pounder. “I’ve really taken time away from the floor to watch video and study players. Physically, I do a lot more training than I did when I was younger and you could just show up and play, so there have been some changes but for the most part, it’s just a matter of focus on the floor.

“To any young goalie, though, I’d advise getting to know the players you’re playing against. Every game, you have to come in understanding that each offence runs differently.”

After spending his first three NLL seasons with Toronto and Boston, albeit used lightly, he was acquired by the Roughnecks in a trade with Boston early in the 2010 campaign.

“I didn’t know a lot of the guys when I came here because I’d played primarily against East teams,” he said. “This is my third year here, so it’s become a little more easy to understand players and know their tendencies.”

That time also has allowed him to groove his working relationship with his defenders.

“He’s a leader on the back end,” smiles second-year defender Dan MacRae. “He’s pretty vocal when the game’s on and also in the dressing room. He likes to hold guys accountable and he holds himself accountable.

“And he’s one of the most fit goalies in the league, out there start to finish in our warm-ups. He’s one of the only goalies I’ve seen go through the whole pre-game warm-up with the team, doing his high knees, running sprints to the sideboards and I think it’s a testament to what’s coming out of this product right now.

“He’s one of the hardest-working guys in the league and that’s kind of our motto as a whole team. We want to be the hardest-working team on the floor and it doesn’t stop with our goaltender at the crease.”

THIS AND THAT: Tonight’s game will be the front end of a home-and-home with Rochester, the back end going next weekend in the U.S. city. The Roughnecks will finish their regular schedule at Edmonton on April 21 and open the playoffs at the Saddledome on May 5. Playoff tickets go on sale Tuesday at all the usual outlets.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH . . .

1. LONG TIME NO SEE: The Roughnecks and Knighthawks haven’t gone toe-to-toe since April 3 of 2010, an 11-9 victory at Rochester by the Riggers. They also defeated them in 2009, but lost to the K-Hawks in 2008 and in 2002, the only other times they played. Now, they’re teeing off in a home-and-home series. Rochester’s only previous trip to Calgary was in 2009.

2. WHO ARE THESE GUYS? Only three players remain on the Rochester roster from the last time they played Calgary. Such stars as John Grant, Jr. (Colorado) and the Evans brothers, Shawn (Calgary) and Scott (Edmonton) have been dealt away, so it’s an entirely new look. Those leading the way up front now include Cody Jamieson (32 goals, 67 points), Cory Vitarelli (21) and Johnny Powless, while veteran Matt Vinc handles the bulk of the goaltending duties.

3. STINGY DEFENCE: The Roughnecks have been putting up some wicked defence in this four-game winning streak. Starting with the first win against Edmonton on March 10, they’ve marked three fourth-quarter shutouts and two first-quarter blanks. “We have two sets of lines that we try to keep together and I think guys are just getting more comfortable,” said D Dan MacRae. “You don’t really have to say as much, communicate a switch here and there. Guys just know what other guys’ tendencies are and I think we’re coming together even more that way.”

4. BRING THE HATS: A balanced Roughnecks offence has been particularly exemplified during the past three games in which several players have enjoyed three-or-more goals outings. All-star Jeff Shattler, last year’s transition player of the year, and ‘Superman’ Curtis Dickson have had a couple each to go along with big volleys by Shawn Evans, Dane Dobbie, Scott Ranger and Geoff Snider. “If you shut the left side down, our right side is going to sting you and if you shut the right side down our lefts are going to sting you,” said coach Dave Pym. “The guys are continuing to bury . . . it’s a compliment to the system we’re playing and the effort that they’re making out there to make each other better.”

5. STATS DIGEST: Calgary G Mike Poulin has the No. 1 goals-against average (9.95) and is tied for most wins with nine. Rochester G Matt Vinc is No. 2 in saves at 447, eight more than No. 3 Poulin, and No. 5 in GA at 12.15.

jdown@calgaryherald.com

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